Seed Keepers

The Path has the opportunity to work with three wonderful seed keepers, Dianna and Greg. Because their work is essential to The Path in the conservation, collection, saving and preservation of heirloom seeds, we’d love for you to meet them.

DIanna (Snow Eagle Seeds Sing) Henry

Arkansas

Dianna’s fascination with old seeds grew as part of her work in Kansas archeology and became the inspiration for her future work. This joy included being one of the founders of the Central Prairie Seed Exchange and Kaw Valley Seeds Project, learning seed saving, and organic spiritual gardening.

Along with her knowledge came the gift of listening to the precious messages of the seeds in the 1980’s. This opened the door of spiritual gardening. Through the sacred corn, Dianna, has been led on journeys to the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. She serves as a Sacred Corn Carrier.

Her formal education is in interior design and trained armature archeology. She views gardening work more as play and looks for opportunities to share with others through education, displays, and demonstrations. Her recent endeavors have been the writings of Whispering Ancestors: The Wisdom of the Corn. This book is now available translated into Spanish and a deck of corn wisdom cards are close to completion. In these ways the voiceless corn may again speak its wisdom to the people.

“Listen to the little children, speaking Wisdom/Truth in the midst of chaos…I give You the Light of Love…know that you can only keep it by giving it away.”

~Snow Eagle Seeds Sing~

Greg Schoen

Silver City, New Mexico

Since his youth, Greg has explored his interest in the natural world, and throughout his adult life he has fostered his enthusiasm and involvement in horticulture, botany and ecology. Through this interest and his travels throughout the Southwest since 1988, he has acquired a useful body of knowledge of regional native botany and ecosystems. Greg maintains a focus in the cultivation of heritage and medicinal plants in an arid climate, within an intentional community setting.

In 1995 Greg befriended Carl Barnes, a Cherokee elder from Oklahoma, and had the good fortune of working with him over the following years. During that time Carl passed on much of his wisdom, along with seeds of many traditional and sacred varieties of corn. It was through spending time with Carl, and through growing these seeds for several seasons in New Mexico, that Greg began to find deeper insights into the spiritual nature of corn, and our seed heritage as a whole. Through this journey, Greg has taken a deep interest in seed preservation and crop diversity and its importance for humanity on many levels.

Academically, Greg holds degrees in botany and horticulture from Oklahoma State University.